I'm an Aussie presently living in London. This blog normally consists of my random thoughts on a variety of subjects, ranging from politics to telecommunications technology, movies cricket, urban design, beer, cheese, and whatever else comes into my head.

Saturday, March 26, 2005

The modern world

I am presently staying with my parents on Australia's Gold Coast, which is a sort of lesser south Florida. (It's a very pleasant place, but it has certain qualities about it). My parents yesterday evening held a party, attended by a wide assortment of relatives on both sides of the family. Prior to the party, I was asked to take care of some background music for the evening. When he asked me to do this, I suspect my father expected me to go through his CD collection and find a few to play for the evening. Instead, I of course responded by plugging my laptop into his stereo, and announcing that everything was taken care of. I think he may have been slightly bemused by this.

Of course, prior to this I had to rush off to the local shopping centre and buy a cable with a 1/4 inch headphone plug at one end and two RCA plugs at the other. I have serveral such cables already, but alas they are in England. My mother now wants me to leave the cable with her and show her how to use iTunes prior to flying out from the Gold Coast on Tuesday.

And of course I have to flash the firmware on her DVD-ROM/R/RW drives to make them region free, too.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Jackie still seems slightly defensive about using her laptop in bed to access the internet. She shouldn't. This is what laptops and wireless were invented for. I have to confess that I had been using laptops in bed for years before I got wireless though: I just had to use a cable for the internet connection. What Jackie may or may not realise is that there is a moment in most wireless laptop users lives when they find themselves going to the bathroom, taking the laptop with them, and being still connected to global information networks while performing certain bodily functions. Most people conclude that this is going too far, but doing it in bed certainly isn't. In fact doing it in bed (just like doing it from a Starbucks in Shenzhen) is cool.

Of course, blogging from my laptop in bed is what I am doing now. I am at my parents place, and my parents have a WiFi network. My mother recently bought her first laptop. I made a suggestion with respect to the model, which she followed. (Like Glenn himself she got a Dell Inspiron 700m, which is a lovely little piece of kit. With this one Dell have really managed nice design, whereas most of their previous machines - like the Inspiron 8600 I am using now - have had good feature sets and have been excellent value for money, but a bit big and clunky. It's a shame Dell are not presently selling the 700m in the UK). I also recommended that she get a home WiFi network in order that she could use the laptop anywhere in the house, and she did. She and my father like to use the laptop on the kitched table at breakfast, and Mum likes to use it to read the newspapers in bed in the morning. (In fact, I just saw my mother take the laptop to bed with her). And my sister and I can use the wireless when we visit.

In fact, my sister will be here tomorrow evening, and she will certainly be bringing her laptop. It is possible that this house will have three people using its wireless network from their beds simultaneously as of tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

More geographical relocation

I am now at my parents place on the Gold Coast in Queensland, not far from Brisbane. I am going to be here for about a week, which is good because I don't think I can take any more plane trips for a little while.

Monday, March 21, 2005

If it's Tuesday, it must be Sydney

I am now in an internet cafe in George Street in Sydney. Since I was here last, Australia has changed from being a "Short, Tall, Grande" country in Starbucks terms to being a "Tall, Grande, Venti" country. China and Hong Kong remain "Short, Tall, Grande" countries, however.

While on that, I forgot to redirect this little Samizdata piece on finding nerd heaven. This piece was actually posted over WiFi from a Starbucks in Shenzhen in China. (I was having a Grande triple shot latte at the time. I was fighting jetlag and really needed it).